Appliances such as refrigerators often include means for delivering ice and chilled water to a consumer. The delivered water, as well as the water used to make the ice, is preferably filtered to remove impurities and improve taste. Thus, many refrigerators include disposable water filter cartridges on board to filter residential tap water before delivery to the consumer.
Because space is at a premium in most residences, it is often desirable to design such refrigerators such that the overall space consumed by the water filtration system is minimized and the filter cartridge is easily accessible by the consumer for convenient removal and replacement. A design utilizing these criteria may result in the filter cartridge being optimally positioned in different orientations. For example, the filter cartridge may be installed and removed in a horizontal orientation—i.e., tipped on its side.
When a used filter cartridge is removed from a refrigerator, the cartridge typically contains residual water that can undesirably drip or spill from the cartridge. This is particularly likely where the filter cartridge is oriented horizontally, where the residual water tends to run from the inlet or outlet ports on the cartridge. Even in refrigerators where filter cartridges are not installed and removed horizontally, the consumer may spill residual water if the filter cartridge is accidentally tipped horizontally or held upside down.
There is a continuing need for filter cartridges that can reduce or prevent dripping or spilling when removed from an appliance. There is also a need for filter cartridges that can reduce or prevent dripping or spilling when removed from an appliance while not increasing the pressure drop across the filter cartridge. There is also a need for filter cartridges that can reduce or prevent dripping or spilling when removed from an appliance without the use of valves or other moving parts. There is also a need for filter cartridges that can reduce or prevent dripping or spilling when removed from an appliance while being relatively easy to manufacture.